Iraqi President says execution of Saddam aides should be delayed

Published January 10th, 2007 - 14:06 GMT

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday the government should delay the execution of two of Saddam Hussein's aides.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday the government should delay the execution of two of Saddam Hussein's aides. Saddam's half brother and former intelligence head, Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to death with Saddam.

"In my opinion we should wait on the executions," Talabani said Wednesday at a news conference with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. "We should examine the situation," he said, according to the AP.

Ibrahim and al-Bandar were originally scheduled to be executed with Saddam on Dec. 30. Their executions were postponed, however, until after the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ended a week ago.

Iraqi officials have said the two men were expected to be hanged in the coming days, but no date has been set. Talabani said he did not know when Ibrahim and al-Bandar would be hanged.